Erythropoietin protects children from the cerebrovascular ischemic effects of cerebral malaria.
Well, this certainly makes sense. One of the major effects of malaria is, after all, severe hemolytic anemia, and anything that will increase oxygen delivery to the brain is going to help.
But the pro-thrombotic effects of parasites lodged in the the brain’s blood vessels are another thing entirely, resembling nothing so much as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
And I don’t know how practical trying to use Epo in developing countries would be, considering that you have to give it subcutaneously or intravenously, and that it’s pretty damn expensive.
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